Immensity (Greece): interview

Immensity  (Greece)

Immensity’s melodic, melancholic doom unexpectedly stood out when I first heard it because the band is different from the majority of the black/death/thrash barrage that this zine covers. Their EP is called “The Lonely Aquarelle” and you can download it for free at immensity.bandcamp.com and it features two long songs: “Eradicate (The Pain of Remembrance)” (8:54) and “Adornment” (10:49).

The quality of the recording is very good, and coupled with their well-written songs, Immensity makes music to be heard again and again. It is certainly quality and distinctive melodic doom.

Andreas (guitars) responded to the zine’s questions.

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How is life for your band Immensity, in Greece? You recorded a very good promo, “The Lonely Aquarelle.  

Hi, there, I'm Andreas. Thanks for your kind words and thank you for your time and the opportunity you give us to express ourselves. Very difficult to live as you want in Greece at this time, but we're tough as people and humble at the same time and we will succeed. Generally up till now we have been receiving very positive reviews from known webzines, there is a positive atmosphere and this comes to us a pleasant surprise. We are very thankful to everyone who supports us.

So, do you have more songs already recorded? Maybe you have a complete album ready to be published?

There are songs written since 2004 that are re-arranged with the current line-up, as well as new songs. We have enough material in the process and that helps us being productive. When we finish the orchestration of all the songs we will have a large number of them. Then we get into the screening process. However, the material for our album is not complete yet, it will eventually take some time, but If everything goes well by the end of winter we will have it all ready and done.

At a time of economic crisis, what is the situation for playing shows for your band in Greece? Is there an audience in Athens, Greece for your music? Do you find that you are outsiders to the metal scene? Are you all college students?

Immensity since 2009 has not made a single show. But we all have a long history of experience in concerts from older bands. Until now we have decided to devote ourselves in writing songs. Generally, the conditions here to do a show are not the best for a band to play at a known venue. Most of the underground bands play in front of 30 to 70 people the most, I guess basically due to economic reasons or according to the band's popularity, there are many issues and problems.

             The truth is all expenses are on the shoulders of the bands playing on stage. Nobody thinks that the payment of the band is a great device to make a step further, which money will help move quicker on technical issues (studio rehearsal, recordings, new instruments etc.) and for that we are not at all arrogant. This means delay and waste of time, I've witnessed very good bands lost in time and forgotten, we dearly hope not to end up in that dark road or dead end. In recent years I see more traffic in this kind here in Greece, new bands are born and it is very pleasant, but we're still few and scattered, but it comes to a good event I think we all support the Greek Doom Metal scene.

As time goes by things will get better and the audience will grow. As Immensity we are still unknown, but we do not mind, everything should be done properly without rushing things. It's Metal the music we play, we do not belong elsewhere or feel strangers in the Metal scene. We grew up with this music. Yes, we are all finished or still college students with degrees which are gathering dust in closed drawers. Half of the members of the band are unemployed and those who are working spend life with very low wages.

Do you want to be a band that tours a lot or is Immensity a side project? Do you want to be professional musicians? Does the idea of living on a bus, from hotel to hotel, sound interesting to you?

Certainly would fulfill a dream, but we are not in the era of 80's and 90's when everything was different, right? We are integrated with permanent band members, and we will stay as so until nature destroys us. hahahahahahahahahaha ....

Is professional  to be communicative with the people who are the cause to become "known" ? Is Professional to play well in live shows to thank those who see you? Is Professional to write music that touches the soul of man [humankind! Women would like Immensity, too!]? You can do this and without being Professional? I'm kind of divided concerning the term "professional," yes as an optimistic person you want to live your life, to go and visit places, meet and connect with the audience while we're playing, if we manage to create certain kind of images and emotions, even better! We surely would like to make this invisible bond between Immensity's music and the ones who watch and listen, not really in a professional way, but in an artistic and entertaining form if you know what I mean.

Most metal bands want to play fast or have speed, but Immensity wants a feeling of doom and melody. Why is that? Where do you get inspiration to play atmospheric music?

Any band can express itself differently depending on how it feels and how to manifest music from their influences. Some bands express it with Death Metal standards, others with Black Metal or Thrash, Heavy, Power, Etc.  This is the magic moreover in Metal music, you have many ways to express yourself. We as Immensity express ourselves into more Doom paths with sadness and depressive landscapes, but of course this doesn't really affect us negatively in our daily lives as individuals. Doom metal is for us the most important part of expression, Doom Music holds all the secrets and keys from life to unfold in a sad way, what is around you, how you see the world and humanity but also with your imagination. We are happy and positive people but we burst out in music, if the music wouldn't exist there, I do not know how we'd be like as entities. Influences and inspiration can also come from an ugly incident, happening a lot lately in our country, but inspiration of course comes mostly from the music itself. For example I've been listening much in the last year to New Age Music, World Music, Ambient, Neoclassical & Classical Music, but of course I listen to Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Funeral Metal and Doom Death Metal. Avantgarde and of course, never forget classic Metal and Hard Rock. So we are all members of the "same mold" you could say. We are strange people, I know hahahaha.

What is the story behind “Eradicate”? It is almost nine minutes long. I found your music to be different, in a good way, since this zine reviews a lot death/black/thrash metal. “Eradicate” contrasts the heaviness of death metal, with the melody of doom metal. Is this one of your earliest songs?

Personally I do not know how to explain the difference, we write music as we feel, yes you might say we play along with the Death metal character combined with melancholy and intrigue or diversity, but the lyrics are based on personal experiences and thoughts, stretching to means of facts of reality, dreams, metaphor even sorrow and solitude. The meaning of "eradicate (the pain of remembrance)” is about to rid the pain within from a sad loss or fight your personal demons, a way to the light then just living in the darkness and fears. It's an earlier song though, the music was written back in 2005 if I recall well, but all the lyrics were written a few years later by our singer.

What about “Adornment”? That one is almost 11 minutes long. So, you are not planning to write a “hit song” of 3 minutes?! “Adornment” made me think of My Dying Bride at the beginning, which is not a bad thing, but then the melodies are really upfront and that’s kind of Immensity’s trademark.

Lots of people say that “Adornment” reminds them of My Dying Bride, the truth is we're not just based on that fact, since our influences are numerous to mention, but some of the bands we really like and I guess share a similar path, but always focusing on our own direction are surely November's Doom, Daylight Dies, Novembre, Swallow The Sun, Draconian, Katatonia, Evoken, Shape of Despair, older Anathema, older Opeth, even more older the Gathering just to name a few, but getting back to "Adornment" we liked the feeling coming out from that song, we played along and wrote it, simply. We do not mind if as a song brings in My Dying Bride which is a part of our influences, truly it's an honor for us if people say that.

Actually it is very pleasing they like so much "Adornment", this might mean that we share the same emotions and have a mutual understanding. Musically we like to go with the flow of a current coming from the music itself. We don't really limit ourselves in a specific time frame, if the composition "tells" us to push the envelope even further in length we just do it. We don't really plan things, even when sometimes we ask ourselves:

"Hey this song is almost as long as the epic movie The Ten Commandments or Ben Hur (starring Charlton Heston). Are we nuts? Nah, what the hell, let's keep it that way.”

But by all means, in a logical basis with diversity to keep things interesting, and of course, lots of melody and memorable moments. Then you never know, the next song might be as short as Danny De Vito, which I doubt it haha!

By the way, does your music sound depressing to you? Do you find that the slow melodies and the heaviness are full of joy, just in a slow way? Immensity wants to slow things down and explore the feeling of doom, and not the aggression in metal, correct? Did you have a difficult time finding a good clean vocalist? A lot of people can growl, but clean vocals are sometimes more difficult to find, right?

We consider that we manage to sound depressive, we like this kind of expression with various alternations that characterize us. We love to play melodic, heavy and slow, aggression is not the prime element, but will not renounce to our music, there may be some outbreaks through a natural progression as we evolve in the future. All sorts of people have passed from Immensity for the last 7 years, finally after so much effort we found the most suitable for the band since musically carries a duality of emotion but also reasonable aggression.

Concerning Leonidas, our singer, well I was fortunate to know him before I started working on the current line up, by listening to the songs and realizing how much he liked them, it wasn't long till I offered him the job to sing for Immensity, who of course accepted, with great pleasure. Coming really from a Progressive metal background and though singing occasionally with Brutal/Growls surely needs some specific technique for avoiding fatigue or harming the voice, but I'm pleased to say and can assure you that Leonidas can handle both very well. There aren't really standards in his way of singing in Immensity, however he continues to adjust and progress on emotions and flow of the music.

What else do we need to know? Your promo is a lot fun and I have been listening to it a lot. Take care!

Oh that's great to know you enjoy our music. Well, next week we begin rehearsals for the actual orchestration of songs and subsequently we will enter the studio to record. As humble, simple, ordinary and happy people we are, love to write sad music (pretty weird right? Hahahahaha). Thank you very much for your kind words and support Mauricio and wish the best in whatever you do and we're so pleased that our music intrigued you enough for this wonderful interview. Cheers...Doom on!  THE END.